Christmas Evaluation

Now that Christmas is over I can't help but look back on how things went for us. This year I felt like I ran out of time in getting all of the little extras finished up that I normally do. Did I plan too much or did I poorly plan? I love sharing the Christmas spirit with others around us, but how do you keep the true spirit of Christmas with you as you do? Here is a little run down of my days before Christmas:

~Mailed 66 Christmas cards to 13 different states! Received 43 Christmas cards in return. That's a record for us! How did you fair this year?

~Made and delivered 9 baskets of goodies for our neighbors just a day before we were heading out of town. I normally bake tons and tons of cookies and candies a week or two before Christmas to deliver to the whole neighborhood, but this year the days passed too quickly. Luckily, I found darling baskets at Target at the last minute that I filled with simple treats that took little time to make (which I forgot to take a picture of!). What did you do for neighbors this year? I am in need of some new ideas.

~Prepared 5 teacher gifts only to discover the night before the last day of school that I had forgotten my children's bus drivers. Bus drivers?? This is our first year riding the bus so I didn't even think about them, but luckily Trenton remembered in time for us to scramble around town at the last minute looking for something. Again, I need new teacher and bus driver gift ideas. Please share!!

Winter Fun

We have season passes to a waterpark near our house and one of the reasons we decided to get them is that the waterpark is transformed into a winter wonderland around Christmas. The kids got to see Santa and surprisingly Owen didn't mind sitting on his lap.


Ashleigh and Owen both loved the characters walking around. Ashleigh had to pose with each one.

Ashleigh is in LOVE with horses, so she was so excited to ride a real pony for the first time. Last time we tried this she was scared and refused to stay on the pony. Times have changed!

This white horse was huge and so beautiful. She was so friendly and wanted to taste everything that came close to her mouth. This photo is going on Ashleigh's wall since she loves horses so much.

Then there was poor Owen (he's in the red hat and coat). He did not like the freezing cold, but when we tried to warm him up in a heated tent he insisted on going back out to continue the fun. He loved the huge train display that was set up in the kiddie pool area.

My older two boys checked out the lazy river which was transformed into a paddleboat ride. They also took a sled down an iced waterslide, which Trenton said was much scarier than going down on an intertube. There was ice skating as well, but we decided to pass on that one. We only lasted an hour and fifteen minutes before deciding we were too frozen to do anymore. It was a great wintertime activity despite the cold.

Letters to Santa

Our post office has a minature mailbox in the lobby for letters to Santa. It is the cutest thing ever! Ashleigh was so excited to mail her letter she had written to Santa at the library last week. She asked me a ton of questions about how the letter was going to get to Santa. She seemed to know that the mailman could not simply deliver it and that a magic sleigh was needed to get it to Santa. On her list this year is a remote-control pony, Troy doll, and make-up.

First snowfall

While visiting our families in Illinois during Thanksgiving, we awoke to our first snow of the season. The kids were very excited to see snow because we haven't seen too much during our years in Kentucky. Owen ended up with frozen red hands because he couldn't stop picking it up. The sad news was that we didn't have any in Ohio for them to play in when we got home. Let's hope Ohio gets a little more than Kentucky for their sake.

Merry Christmas!

I received this letter yesterday from Owen's Mothers' Morning Out teacher. I just had to share it because it almost seemed like a letter I could have written. It is kind of long, but SO worth the read! I dedicate this to my dear Montana friend, Jessica.

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned, and cuddled my two children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground and figured out how to attach nine patches to my daughter's Girl Scout sash with staples and a glue gun.

I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who know when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache after a day of chasing kids (in any color, except purple which I already have) and arms that don't flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to carry a screaming toddler out of the candy aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year, I'd like a car with fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking daughter doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with one potty-trained toddler, two kids who don't fight, and three pairs of jeans that zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting, "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother" because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container. If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the chimney and come in and dry off by the fire so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table, but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours always...Mom

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

Some exciting news!!

In case you haven't heard the exciting news...

SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES TWILIGHT SEQUEL - NEW MOON

Los Angeles, CA November 22, 2008 — Summit Entertainment announced today that the studio is officially moving forward with the production of NEW MOON, the second installment of its filmed franchise TWILIGHT, the action-packed, modern day vampire love story. The movie will be based on the second novel in author Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series titled, New Moon. The first movie in the TWILIGHT franchise, the self-titled TWILIGHT, arrived in theaters this weekend to sold-out showings.

Stephenie Meyer stated, "I don't think any other author has had a more positive experience with the makers of her movie adaptation than I have had with Summit Entertainment. I'm thrilled to have the chance to work with them again on NEW MOON."

Twilight

As you all know, I am a huge Twilight fan so I was determined to see the new movie on opening night. We planned a Girls Night Out and went out to dinner before catching a late night showing. We thought that by going late at night we would avoid the crowds. Boy, were we wrong! The theater was showing Twilight every half hour and every showing was completely sold out. Luckily, we were smart and bought our tickets well in advance or I would have been very disappointed. Even though we already had our tickets, we had to wait in line for an hour just to be seated in the theater. It was the craziest scene I have ever seen inside a movie theater. Once they opened the gate, everyone starting running to find a seat. I almost got into a fight over a section of seats that I was trying to reserve for our big group. Once the movie started, the crowd went crazy cheering, screaming, and whistling for a full minute. During the movie, the crowd screamed and cheered whenever Edward and Bella kissed.

Despite the craziness, I loved the movie. Many people are disappointed in it, but given the limited budget they had to make it I thought it was great. I loved how closely it followed the book. Yes, there were some subtle differences, but overall it was a close match. I knew exactly what was happening before it happened because I had read the book. At first I was so disappointed in Edward because I had built him up so much in my mind from reading Bella's perspective, but he grew on me as the movie continued. By the end, I was in love right along with Bella. I can't wait to see how much money it brought in this weekend. I am so happy for Stephenie. I am going to catch it again next weekend to support her...no, really just because I loved it and really want to see it again. What did you think of it?

School projects

This is Trenton's second school project of the year. Last month he had to construct a 3x5" house which he creatively turned into an outhouse with a moon and everything. This month's project was to make a pilgrim or Indian out of a clothespin. I was very nervous about how this was going to turn out, but I think his finished project is darling. It is the cutest Indian I have ever seen. He is so proud of it...and me too.

Go Maytag!

Who knew a stocking hat could be so much fun?

Cast Your Vote!

For fun on election day, we had a family dinner election where everyone voted for what they would like to have for dinner. The kids loved getting to vote. Even Owen cast his vote. I put pictures on the ballot to make it a little easier for Ashleigh and him. The winning choices were...drum roll please...Dad's homemade pizza, dinner rolls, hot chocolate, and my triple chocolate cake. It's maybe not the healthiest dinner, but the Borders' have spoken!

Little Miss Cowgirl

Ashleigh got to wear her Halloween costume to school on Halloween. They had a costume parade and classroom party. I love this profile shot of her in her pink cowgirl hat.

This is Ashleigh's "desk" at school. She got lots of goodies during the party.

Don't you think the homemade felt vest completes her look?

Costume Fun

This year I have a ninja, cowgirl, and a pumpkin. We have had lots of chances to wear our costumes this year...trick-or-treating at the zoo, trunk-or-treat at church, library party, Halloween night, and our annual party.

Owen loves Ashleigh's hat which is so ironic because I really wanted him to be a cowboy with her, but thought it made more economical sense to wear Trenton's old costume. Maybe next year I'll get my cowboy.

Ta da!! I am so proud of this vest that I made myself for only $3 (including the patch)...with a glue gun!! I really wanted Ashleigh to have a vest to complete her costume, but I couldn't find one anywhere. I decided to make one and since I can't sew, I used a glue gun. I think it turned out beautifully. It is surprisingly very sturdy and should last a long time thanks to the ribbon. What do you think?

My Helper...sort of

Owen loves to be by my side at all times. Today he helped me with laundry. He started out sorting out all of Ashleigh's socks (which he identified by the pink on them), but then got carried away with the fun of emptying all of the socks.



He picked out all of his socks (very smart) and carried them to his room. Here he is showing me his pile.



Later, Owen wanted to help with dinner, only he got hungry. He dumped out a box of Lucky Charms on the floor to search for marshmallows. Too bad his older brother and sister had already eaten every single marshmallow...sad, I know. At least I don't have to worry about buying that cereal ever again.

I gave him a dust pan and broom to sweep up his mess and he gave it a good try.

Next, Owen moved on to his favorite drawer...the miscellaneous kitchen drawer. He thought emptying a bag of skewers looked like fun. However, he did put them all back when he was done. Note...don't eat kabobs at the Borders' house because the sticks have been all over the floor.

He then moved on to taking pictures with our camera. He is getting pretty good at it. Here's one he took of Ashleigh. Maybe a photographer in the making.

The Latest

Here is what we are up to these days:

Owen is such a fun little boy. He jabbers all day long and is talking pretty well. He just learned how to say "poop" yesterday which makes us all laugh. He prefers to be the center of attention and somehow always manages to be. He and Ashleigh are still the best of friends always playing together when she gets home from school. Yesterday while Ashleigh was at school Owen played "baby" in her room. His "baby" was a Raggedy Ann doll that he fed in her high chair. Too cute!

Here's Owen enjoying his first ice cream cone.

Ashleigh has caught the school bug. She loves it so much. As soon as she comes home from school, she wants to play school and often sits at the table for hours at a time coloring and singing songs she learned at school. She reminds me of myself. She is such a social girl, but likes to be in charge which can be a problem. She loves to help me with chores while Owen naps. Recently she has become obsessed with horses. She loves them and just brought a book home from the library about horses. She is going to be a cow girl for Halloween. Do all girls go through this phase? I just hope she never asks for a pony!

Trenton has turned into a bookworm. He reads whenever he has free time, which again reminds me of myself as a child. He finished "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" in three or four days even though it has 550 pages! He couldn't put it down. He also spends a lot of free time drawing ships and airplanes. Webkinz are still very fascinating to him, but they come third to his other interests. He continues to love Cub Scouts and is excited about becoming a Bear in just a month or so. Flag football is not nearly as exciting to him as it was in the beginning, but he is sticking with it.

Nathan is busy as ever with work. He is just flourishing here and seems less stressed about work than he used to be. He handles the stress of a sales career beautifully which helps me to relax about it as well. He is quite the handy man as he just finished installing a brand new furnace and thermostat for us by himself! He has also replaced several faucets, light fixtures, locks, and the list goes on and on. It's great to have a handy man...now if I could only get him to learn how to build a rolling can holder for my food storage :)

Ashleigh enjoyed playing in the empty furnace box.

I am knee deep in PTA stuff at both schools. I am managing fine and I really love meeting lots of other moms and staff. The schools are so big here that it is hard to be known, but with my big tasks at both schools, we are starting to be recognized. Yeah! In my other free time I am working very hard to get our family totally prepared for emergencies. With our power outage a few weeks ago, I discovered how much I still need to do. My eyes were opened to how self-reliant I need to be because people are not friendly during emergencies. Everyone went into panic mode here which was really scary. I want us to be able to be completely prepared so that we wouldn't have to leave our house if necessary. Stay tuned for updates on my progress. There have been several community and church meetings about this since the big blackout which have been really informative.

Carnival fun

Trenton's school held their annual fall carnival last weekend, which was a lot of fun for Trenton and Ashleigh. Somehow I got stuck working the velcro wall by myself for two hours, so the kids had to do the carnival by themselves. Trenton decided to try out the velcro wall on one of his check-ins. You put on a heavy velcro suit and then jump onto a velcro wall where you literally hang until you pull yourself off. Ridiculous, but very popular! I had a huge line the entire time I worked.
Here is Trenton stuck to the velcro wall. It is hard to actually get off the ground because the suit is so heavy and awkward to jump in.

I had to stop working the velcro wall for a second to snap this picture of my kids eating dinner together next to my booth. They rarely spend time together with just the two of them, so I thought this was so sweet. Trenton totally took care of Ashleigh during the night. They even pooled their tickets together and took turns playing games.

Storytime

I signed Owen and I up for a toddler storytime at the library. It is the greatest program! We have 15 minutes of singing and reading followed by 15 minutes of free play every week. I love having quality one-on-one time with Owen that he rarely gets as we shuffle around everyday doing things for Trenton and Ashleigh. Owen is hysterical during free play because all he wants are the balls. He spends the entire 15 minutes collecting all the balls and randomly throwing them at the moms when they least expect it. Here he is trying to coax one of the little twins in our group to give up his ball. We have two sets of twins in our group!

Here's Owen content that he got the balls that he wanted.

Riding the bus

When Ashleigh gets home from school she loves to play school with Owen teaching him about what you do at school. Here they are riding the bus. I thought it was very creative. They played on this for hours. We had the missionaries over for dinner that day and they even sat on it during our lesson, which was very distracting but adorable.

Touchdown!

Trenton is loving flag football. He started games two weekends ago. He made a touchdown in his very first game as soon as his coach let him have the ball.

Here is Trenton on his way to make a touchdown.

Owen grew bored of watching the game, so he found a tree to play inside.

Autumn is the eternal corrective

We have been getting very excited around our house now that summer has drawn to a close. Autumn is by far my most favorite time of year. I just love the cooler weather, long sleeve t-shirts, and cookouts. It is the start of so many new things, but the end of many as well. I found this most beautiful quote about fall that I think really portrays my thoughts well:

"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?" ~Hal Borland

Flag Football

Trenton is playing flag football this fall for the first time. Today he said that he loves football. We may have finally found a sport he enjoys. He admits that he doesn't enjoy sports and insteads proclaims building with Legos and learning about history and science as his passions. We just love the young man that he is. He is a great example to us and his classmates.

Legoland

While in Chicago last weekend we visited the newly opened Legoland. This museum was at the top of Trenton's list for the weekend after reading about it in one of his Lego magazines. Everything in the museum was made of Legos. It was amazing to see and touch.

A complete Darth Vader Lego creation.

This is my favorite picture of the trip! Like a kid in candy store. We had the best time as a family hanging out and just watching the kids have fun. They were all genuinely happy there and you can't ask for anything better than that!

WICKED

We headed to Chicago last weekend to visit Nathan's brother, Andrew. How great it is to have family close enough for a weekend getaway! Besides visiting Andrew and Katy, at the top of my list was to FINALLY seeing Wicked. It was well worth the wait! I adored it and cannot wait to see it again very soon. It is coming to Louisville in January and you can bet I will be there! It is SO awesome. Nathan made fun of me for smiling during the whole thing. You just can't help but smile. It is so beautifully done that words cannot describe it. It is not just the music, but the story and the stage centering and everything in between. You just have to see it.

The theater in Chicago totally added to the atmosphere of the musical. It is so beautiful with amazing architectural details. I wish I could have taken more pictures to share, but no pictures are allowed in the theater itself.

Ashleigh's 1st Day of School

Ashleigh was SO excited to start kindergarten last week. She absolutely loves riding the bus to school with her best friend who lives next door. They hold hands as they cross the street to get on the bus and always sit together and wave hysterically at us as the bus pulls away. Ashleigh insisted on a High School Musical backpack and shirt for her first day of school.

Ashleigh and Olivia. It rained on Ashleigh's first day, but they didn't seem to mind. Aren't they adorable?

Owen and I pick up Ashleigh up each day when her short kindergarten day ends at 11:20 because there is not a return bus route in our neighborhood at lunch. I had Ashleigh switched from PM kindergarten to AM so that I would have more opportunities to volunteer in the school given Owen's nap schedule and such. It will also be good to prepare her for 1st grade. So far, it is working beautifully.

A Proud Night for All

Last night was Trenton's first Pack meeting here in Ohio after a long summer break. It is so great to be back into a routine.
Trenton (and Mom) worked hard all summer earning Cub Scout badges/awards. His two weeks of day camp this summer really paid off. These are all the awards he received last night and he earned 6 additional belt loops that I already gave him from the day camp in Louisville. Wow!! To top it all off, he earned the prize for the tidiest uniform. We are SO proud of him and just love his dedication to the Scouting program.

While the parents attended a Committee Meeting, the Scout leaders helped the boys frame their very own mission picture. It is a personalized reminder of when Trenton will serve a mission for our church...in 2018! That seems so far away, but it will be here before we know it. It is amazing to think that in 10 years Trenton will be out serving the Lord somewhere in the world...Trenton really wants to go to Egypt :) All of the boys were so excited to see when they will be heading out on their missions. It was such a cool idea! It is something they will all treasure forever.